[2.1 Hype] Nuka's Massive RT Conversion Builds - up to 320k Melee DPS
 Physical to Lightning: an Underrated Gem? _______________________________________ Greetings, exile! I am Nuka, a passionate brazilian Path of Exile player. My favorite thing about this game (which I have been playing since Open Beta) is, by far, buildmaking. The build concept I will go really in depth in this thread was made during months of trial and error, until it was absolutely refined. There will be a lenghty explanation of the mechanics involved. Unfortunately, I won't be able to illustrate everything because I had to sell most of my gear to afford the final one during Warbands (the last time I played), but the whole progression was memorized and transcripted if anyone gives me the pleasure of following what I did. Anyway, sit tight - the final results are pretty damn impressive! Firstly, what is this build all about? My objective was pushing Resolute Technique Melee DPS as far as I could, making it compete with Crit builds damage-wise but not cost nearly as much as the GG ones. While RT builds are generally taking the tanky approach, I went with an all out style, getting what's just enough to survive and then stacking all the damage. Let's start with the pros and cons of what's being showcased: PROS: - Widely accessible, you can start it with a few Exalts worth of gear and go nuts, because of: - the scaling! With investment, you will see numbers ranging from 40k to 300k+ DPS! - Able to do high end content. As GGG stated, 82 maps are content aimed for "elite" players. This build has been there and done it; - Reliable against a ton of modifiers - minimal Chaos spamming to do those awful maps; - It is getting MASSIVELY buffed with the 2.1 content Patch. - Leveling it up is a breeze. CONS: - Needs very specific gearing to scale up, it's not likely you will pick up random things from xyz and get amazing results; - Very vulnerable against elemental reflect - while not impossible, doing that mod is much prefered to be avoided; - To get maximum DPS, some defenses are getting sacrificed - this could be described as semi glass cannon RT melee build, you will not godmode through high level content. Section I - The theorycraft:
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The core idea is scaling Elemental damage through Added Physical damage gear. The reason to do so is fundamentally simple: you are able to stack so many multiplicative damage boosts by doing it, it's actually insane! Generally, Elemental attack builds go for weapons and auras with flat damage and scale them through the Weapon Elemental Damage gem, Auras, WED gear and Attack Speed. With this concept, you can scale through:
- Physical Damage from your weapon and gear; - Flat Elemental Damage from your weapon* and gear; - Melee Physical Damage gem; - Weapon Elemental Damage gem; - Added Fire Damage gem; - Physical to Lightning Gem, which gets scaling from both MPD and WED gems; - Attack Speed gem and gear; - Hatred Aura, Taste of Hate, Atziri's Promise and any other flat damage auras a group could be running. *it is not advised to have flat elemental damage on your weapon at all! It's not all flowers, though. Some problems were found in the long process it was making the build. The biggest one was not being able to Mana Leech. That means you have to suck it up and run Blood Magic, wasting a gem slot and losing a big multiplicative modifier from the list, right? Wrong! Along with the help of friends (shoutout to Prowl), both the cheap and endgame solutions were found. To make it quick: if you are using the Dual Wield template, Soul Taker. If you are using the 2H template, Blood Magic Maul. Notice that this information could be incorrect by 2.1, since they are doing a massive Leech rework that will let Elemental attack damage be able to do it. But for now, I will stick to what's been tested. The second one was the build turned out to be pretty glass cannon. In fact, I almost abandoned it thinking it would struggle at endgame. But with a lot of tweaking, I managed to find what's just enough to get by in most situations. This implies I am not presenting a Hardcore build, but a Hardcore build could stem out of the templates - I leave it to the reader to judge. Thirdly, it was not Physical damage. Most of you know Physical damage heavy hits crush armor, translating your tooltip DPS to nearly 1:1 inside the game. This is not the case with Elemental damage, though. Mobs do have resistances and your tooltip will tell you sweet little lies. In fact, most of the people criticize Physical to Lightning mechanic because of this. You would be weakening your "real" DPS by making your armor crushing potential lower. But fear not, we have a solution: Elemental Weakness. And here comes the BEST part: 2.1 will let us use Elemental Weakness as a f**king aura! That means a huge improvement in clear speed, because you will not need to stop and curse every damn Rare in your way. I.I Skill gem usage
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The best results were Ice Crash and Glacial Hammer. Generally, we are only going to use a skill gem that converts at least 50% of our Physical damage to Elemental, because Physical to Lightning will kick in the last 50% and we will double dip from both MPD and WED scaling. I suspect Lightning Strike will be godly comes 2.1 with the massive buffs it will get.
Your priorities will be (from left to right): Ice Crash > Melee Physical Damage > Weapon Elemental Damage > Physical to Lightning > Added Fire Damage > Increased Area of Effect (AoE Clear speed) or Concentrated Effect/Faster Attacks (Single Target). Glacial Hammer > Melee Physical Damage > Weapon Elemental Damage > Physical to Lightning > Multistrike > Melee Splash (AoE) or Added Fire Damage (Single Target). As you can see, a 6L is absolutely ideal to take the most out of the build. Until you don't have it, Ice Crash is the skill of choice. I.II Combat statistics
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From top to bottom, what will make your tooltip grossly incandescent:
I. Flat Physical attack damage: the most important stat, by far. You have to aim for max tier rolls on Rings and Amulet, while your weapon needs to do as much Physical damage you can afford. Every part of this build multiplies this stat by a ridiculous amount. II. Attack speed: you hit very hard. The quintessential DPS formula is the harder you can hit, the faster you want to hit. III. Weapon Elemental Damage percentage: your huge attack damage got converted to Elemental. This is a given. IV. Flat Elemental attack damage: while it's not boosted by your MPD multipliers, it is still a considerable boon. Your perfect Ring or Amulet will have Flat Physical, Weapon Elemental Damage and a Flat Element Damage. V. Strength: a very useful stat which slightly increases your damage and adds considerable survivability. I.III Defense statistics
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Shoot for 5k+ Health. Your biggest allies are hybrid Evasion/Armor gear, since they scale really nicely with Iron Reflexes. Having a partner who runs Grace aura for you is godly. Run a Perpetual Jade Flask of Reflexes and a Perpetual Granite Flask of Iron Skin, the second only if you don't have Taste of Hate.
Section II. What do I need to run it?
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II.I Dual Wielding - Glacial annihilation on a budget.
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I had about 10 Exalted Orbs in Warbands and a mission: reaching 200k DPS with a RT build. Turned out to be quite possible! For the best bang for the buck, you look for:
Main Hand: Doryani's Catalyst. 300+ Physical attack DPS, up to 100% increased Elemental Damage and a bit of Life Leech. It is the weapon to start with. Everything this weapon has fits like a glove to the build. I only replaced it when I found a 390 Physical DPS 1H Axe. Remember Axes can't use Glacial Hammer so it really limits your arsenal - always prefer a Mace. Off Hand: Prismatic Eclipse or Soul Taker This is one of the biggest question marks 2.1 speculation leaves. At this moment, you absolutely have to run a Soul Taker to get rid of the no Mana Leeching problems. Should we be able to sustain attacking when 2.1 goes live, the best option becomes Prismatic Eclipse by a mile. It has the advantages of being a Sword, which lets us use Whirling Blades as a movement skill, boosting our defenses with Block chance and adding a ton of damage through global Attack Speed. Prismatic Eclipse might even the gap between the DW and 2H versions of the build by a negligible amount if everything goes right. Body armour: Lightning Coil Nothing quite compares to our good ol' overpowered chestpiece. Through IR, defensive flasks and enough HP, LC lets you kill stuff much faster than you get killed. It's such a quality of life improvement it's unreal! Everything else: Rare items! Yup, no need for any other fancy uniques at all! Once you're done buying the core gear, go for: Helmet: HP, Ar/Ev, Str or Dex, depending on what you need to balance stats, Resists. Gloves: Flat Physical Damage, Attack Speed, HP, Ar/Ev, Resists. Belt: Str or Physical damage base, Weapon Elemental Damage, HP, Str, Resists. Boots: HP, Ar/Ev, Str or Dex, depending on what you need to balance stats, Resists. Blood Dance could work here, but balancing your resists would be hell. Rings: Flat Physical Damage, Weapon Elemental Damage, Flat Elemental Damage, HP, Resists, Intellect should you need it. Amulet: Flat Physical Damage, Weapon Elemental Damage, Flat Elemental Damage, HP, Resists, all stats should you need it. Jewels: Refer to Combat statistics. Generally you want Attack Speed with Maces, Damage with Maces and HP%. II.II Two Hander - Putting the end in endgame.
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A carbon copy of the Dual Wielding gear selection except for the weapon. Since it's my last iteration of the build so far, I will be able to show exactly how to do it:
Pretty much the Mace (or Axe, in case you don't want to run Glacial Hammer) with the best Physical DPS you can afford. Be warned, though: everything under about ~450 Physical DPS gets outclassed by the Dual Wielding setup. As of 2.0, you need an open prefix for the Blood Magic support Master Mod. With 2.1 out in the corner, it's very likely this restriction will be gone for good, letting you go absolutely WILD with your 2H selection. Mirrored 800 pDPS weapon? Check it. Section III. Gem setup.
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This section is subject to changes in the upcoming patch. To achieve the optimal rig, you want a level 3 Enlighten gem - by having one you don't fully reserve your mana and you won't need Blood Magic linked to utility Skills.
Utility 4L A:
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Blood Rage, Enduring Cry, Vaal Haste, Increased Duration
Utility 4L B:
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Cast when Damage Taken, Immortal Call, Summon Chaos Golem, Increased Duration.
Auras 4L:
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Hatred, Herald of Ash, Arctic Armour, Enlighten.
Attack:
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Ice Crash, Melee Physical Damage, Weapon Elemental Damage, Physical to Lightning, Added Fire Damage, Increased Area of Effect (AoE Clear speed) or Concentrated Effect/Faster Attacks (Single Target).
Glacial Hammer, Melee Physical Damage > Weapon Elemental Damage > Physical to Lightning > Multistrike > Melee Splash (AoE) or Added Fire Damage (Single Target). Movement Skill:
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Dual Wielding: Whirling Blades, Faster Attacks, Fortify
Two Handed: Leap Slam, Blood Magic, Faster Attacks, Fortify, Curse on Hit, Elemental Weakness Section IV. The builds.
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Again, these builds will be updated for content 2.1. If you feel like the HP% from tree is too low, you can swap any offensives to the abundant life we have access to, using the Combat statistics priority list from bottom to top. Have in mind you can get a lot of HP% with Jewels.
Dual Wielding:
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https://www.pathofexile.com/fullscreen-passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwABAdwEswUtCVgR1RQgGjghYCcvKCoppSyFLdIuUzIJMok0jjWSNe862DrtOzs8BUE_QzFHfkrIUEdR5lO7V5dX4lnzWhpfP2BBY3BlTWeAaGVo8mvZbEZttG6qbztybHKpdO108Xasd1N343fleA15aHvDgUGCm4LkhNmFUoY7iq-LT5ARkFWRzpSHl3mbap7Fnz6iAKgHqW6sqq2Nr2y18rvtvTa-p768v9XAGsBmwQTBi8MzxFjPftNv0_zYvdlh2sHbp9-y4XPkUeoY7SDvDu988B_z3fZI9zL46w==
Two Handed
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https://www.pathofexile.com/fullscreen-passive-skill-tree/AAAAAwABAdwEswUtB3UJlhLhFCAaOCFVIWAnICcvKaUshSz7LdIyCTKJNI41kjkOOtg7OzwFQKBBP0SeRrdHfkrIUEdR5lO7V-JZ81oaXhNfP2VNaGVo8mvZbEZuqm87cmxyqXTxdqx3U3fjd-V4DXloeu97w4KbguSE2YTvhVKGO4dqiiKKr5ARkFWQbJHOktCUh5d5nsWfPqIAouqpJ6luqZSsqq2Nr2y18rvtvTa-p768wBrAZsCmwQTEWM9-02_Yvdlh3D3fsuFz5FHqGOsJ7SDvDu988B_z3fZI9zL46w==
Section V. Flasks.
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Yup, Flasks get their own section. That's how important they are - you can gain 50-100k DPS by just pressing two buttons.
The MVPs of this build are: In my opinion, the most overpowered item in Path of Exile. Taste of Hate is good enough to be used defensively even if you deal no Physical damage, now imagine when you are scaling your damage both off Physical and Elemental multiplicate modifiers. Bonus: extends your Cold Resistance so you can also use it to tank reflect mobs. Taste of Hate is so damn important it should be your priority after weapons and 6l. Good old Atziri Grape Juice. This thing double dips like a behemoth on steroids with this build. Even though you are doing full Elemental damage, the Physical bonus also gets added, multiplied by both MPD and WED and then converted to Chaos! And heres an example of the last 3 Flasks to use: Bleed/Freezing Dispels Instants, Big Evasion for tankyness. Section VI. Bandits.
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Normal: Oak (+40 Maximum HP)
Cruel: Kraitlyn (+8% Attack Speed) Merciless: either Kraitlyn (+1 Frenzy Charge, recommended) or Oak (+1 Endurance Charge, if you absolutely hate dying). Section VII. The Results.
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These results are presented with the 2H build, using the gear listed below. It's not 100% optimal because my jewels are crap. I quit the game right as I finished my Mace (by the end of Warbands) and had no time to regear properly. Ice Crash (AoE Setup) - Auras and Frenzy Charges: 129k DPS
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 Ice Crash (AoE Setup) - Auras, Frenzy Charges, Potions, Vaal Haste: 198k DPS
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 Glacial Hammer (AoE Setup) - Auras and Frenzy Charges: 155k DPS
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 Glacial Hammer (AoE Setup) - Auras, Frenzy Charges, Potions, Vaal Haste: 248k DPS
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 Glacial Hammer (Single Target Setup) - Auras and Frenzy Charges: 207k DPS
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 Glacial Hammer (Single Target Setup) - Auras, Frenzy Charges, Potions, Vaal Haste: 320k DPS
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 Section VIII. Current gear:
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All those items were obtained during the Warbands league. All I did in Standard was 6l'ing the Mace. Thanks to the people involved in my constant theorycrafting, and big thanks to my fam Aikeo for funding a good part of my playthrough through Warbands. You guys rock. And thank you for reading! Let me know what you think in the comments - leave suggestions and critique! Much love, @Nukkka __________ ToDo: Check for potential grammar and spelling errors, restructure, update for 2.1. Phys to light, yo. Last edited by treta on Dec 10, 2015, 7:41:36 AM
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Dude's a beast and have personally witnessed said build.
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Such low life. Very hesitant to try this out on a new league.
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@1i
<3 @skoupidi I knew one of the first critics I would recieve would be about the amount of hp, which I think its pretty unsettling at first glance. I was playing in Warbands with 5400 HP total, which is by no means a huge amount but very doable. The key is getting Jewels with good primary offensive stats and a good HP% roll, like it was explained in the gearing advice. You also can go wild with HP on your gear. As you can see, you can get Helmets, Belts and Boots with chunky STR + HP anytime. You also play with a massive amount of Endurance charges, meaning your Immortal Calls will be huge - negating a ton of Physical damage. Think of it as the Crit builds renegade sister. My main goal was pushing RT dps to the limit, making it nearly as good as Crit while not being nearly as expensive. About trying it in the new league, I'll sure remake it again. I have a new tree planned out but there are some challenges ahead, such as: 1) How good will be Elemental Mana and Life Leech? Am I will be able to drop Soul Taker for good and roll with Prismatic Eclipse? What is getting scrapped to make room for the points? 2) How am I going to fit Curse Auras inside the gear? The main point of the thread, for now, is showcasing how crazy Physical to Elemental conversion can get. Phys to light, yo.
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Fresh out of the oven update. This unique will reaaaaally increase the access to the 2h version of the build!
 Phys to light, yo. Last edited by treta on Dec 10, 2015, 9:02:40 AM
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Hello !
First things first, thanks for this guide !! I'm playing a templar version of Glacial Hammer, but not as theory crafted as yours ! Now that 2.1 is out, what update would you make ? Thanks ! ign : Orbist_Lightning
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THX soo much for posting such a complete build/builds :) currently building the duel version an @ lvl 67 Iam very pleased :) I have learned an understood more from your post then the 2 years of playing has done for me ... this build is very simple an easy to play and STRONG which makes it extremely fun to play
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hi you build is very good you dont have video for look this dmg ? and you use new axe ?
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