[2.3 Video Guide] Dual Spark Crit Totems Ascendant/Inquisitor [HC/SC & Atziri Viable]

Looks like the build may need some changes with these patch notes and the Assassin's Mark nerf.

Hey man really enjoy your builds! I'm stuck between this and your Flame totem build with Chieftain. Which will be faster to 100? Thanks in advance!

Would you consider dropping vaal spark for maybe something like ice spear + gmp + pcoc + fc? And maybe take some power charge nodes and help alira in merci? I also thought about taking the ranger start as ascendancy, lets you take more projectile nodes (ballistic mastery) and life/eva.

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Jakzca wrote:

Looks like the build may need some changes with these patch notes and the Assassin's Mark nerf.

The only thing that should be considered changing is the Vaal Spark setup, but I want to test it out before I do so. I might still be good for what it does :)

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thevdende wrote:

Would you consider dropping vaal spark for maybe something like ice spear + gmp + pcoc + fc? And maybe take some power charge nodes and help alira in merci? I also thought about taking the ranger start as ascendancy, lets you take more projectile nodes (ballistic mastery) and life/eva.

Power charges shouldn't be necessary at all. I had about 55% crit chance on my character (with mediocre gear). That said if you like that mechanic and want make use of a few power charges then there is nothing wrong with that.

Having used that mechanic back in the day I will warn you though, it feels very tedious to use imo :)

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Wuge wrote:

Hey man really enjoy your builds! I'm stuck between this and your Flame totem build with Chieftain. Which will be faster to 100? Thanks in advance!

Flame Totem will be stronger for the most part of the game, but once you get good gear on this build it will start to outperform the flame totem. Flame totem is the easy safe choice and spark totem is the strongest late game but at the cost of being a little less efficient in the beginning.

Honestly man, it makes very little difference :)

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Why not Hierophant? Do you think 3x 4 Linked Totems would do comparable dps to a 6L?
Hierophant / Deadeye seems good :)

Spark and especially critbuilds powerspike pretty hard with links. You wont even get close to the clearspeed (talkin bout higher tier content, im sure midtier maps u can do pretty okayish with that setup) of a 6l.

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Hey man really enjoy your builds! I'm stuck between this and your Flame totem build with Chieftain. Which will be faster to 100? Thanks in advance!

I would say if u rly wanna push for as high lvl as possible this one would be better, simply by the fact that its pretty safe thanks to the freeze when u play with cob-ring. Also u can place ur totems from pretty much any safe spot while with ft u sometimes have to position closer. Going for ~100 is all about not dying, to be honest id even recommend the ea build by peyter, it should be here in the scion forum on page 1, but as said as long as u spec heavy into defense and got enough time 100 is doable with any build.

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Would you consider dropping vaal spark for maybe something like ice spear + gmp + pcoc + fc? And maybe take some power charge nodes and help alira in merci? I also thought about taking the ranger start as ascendancy, lets you take more projectile nodes (ballistic mastery) and life/eva.

Im going to play a similar build in sc and im gonna take at least 2pc from the tree + alira, going heavy for crit (will be 80+ in the end, with huge multi). But for pc generation id recommend u just go for hierophant or use orb of storms with pcoc. Ranger start is a waste, gettin another class is way way better than what u get from the nodes. U have more good stuff to take than u have passive points anyway, so theres no use in wasting that 2nd powerspike ;)

My thought on class:

Most useful ways to play this is a) Inquisitor b) Scion Deadeye+Hierophant

a) Inquisitor: u free up the penetration gem, dont need to use any ele curse and do huge dmg on bosses. Also if u play with cob (the unique ring with convert dmg) u dont waste any type of dmg due to res. U get permafreeze+shock wo any drawback. Also the biggest part about this is the killspeed u gain at bosses and high resist enemys, thats huge, considering atziri and also high tier maps. A little extra is that u can swap ur spell. U can go for almost any other mainspell and setup since this is very flexible.

b) Deadeye+Hiero: When u play with pc the biggest qol (especially for lazy ppl) is the gain pc on placing totem. But orb of storms is quite good now for that, cast once get all ur pc. The free pierce was pretty strong, but now with the change on pierce, lvl20 = ~30% more dmg, u will want to use the gem anyway. U would gain 100 pierce tho. but tbh i dont see a reasonable difference between 65 (gem+jewel) and 100. Also u have the option to take the pierce nodes on the tree, id rather take 5-6 extra nodes (at least in sc) and have a free gemslot. But as said before, 65 pierce should be more than enough. The 3 totems in a 4l helm only helps with lvling til u get ur 5l/6l. But if u r not a very new player thats not a problem anyways. Beside that we only get a projectile. And tbh 7 or 8 aint doing THAT much for our deeps to be worth it.

Conclusion: If u r going pc and are the most lazy person in the universe and dont wanna press a button from time to time and/or u want to have 100 pierce at all cost wo using nodes then deadeye/hierophant is for you. !!! But u should really consider going for inquisitor. U get way(yy) more damage (especially at bosses/hightier content), free gemslot, easier leveling, flexible in spelluse (if u get tired of spark, cause its too good ;) ).

I will be running st-spark-fc-pierce-critmulti. 6th will be most likely inccrit, maybe fasterproj or dur. Needs testing. But consider that the pc's alone will give u ~+20%critchance. So if u r playin sc consider dropping some life for that delicious pc and get to like 140-150%life (with jewels) it should be enough when we have permafreeze and mom.

@ bamelam: Could u post ur planned skilltree please :P?

The problem with going hierophant for the pc is that you will still have only 2 totems to generate powercharges. Recasting totems is expensive, and if your MoM-EB and your ES is getting low because you are constantly recasting it for the pc's you might just die, especially in hc. I think occultist+deadeye is indeed the way to go, especially because the build takes whispers of doom. Don't forget deadeye also grants additional damage the farther projectiles travel (up to 30%) with a quality spark gem and the projectile speed from this node and sniper, I think the damage output will be quite legit.

Edit: If they release a lightning golem, I would definitely consider elementalist.