[2.5] Essence Drain Build Options (HC Uber Atziri/Shaper Viable)

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BokkoTheBunny wrote:

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VzwsoN wrote:

One thing I havnt spotted yet is an 8 point Ascendency list.

Please provide. I have 4 atm but would like insight on the last 2 points

Thanks.

I'm not on HC so keep that in mind.

This is for trickster and I can't really say for OCC or others cause I haven't played them myself.

Leveling I started with Patient reaper, because we are lower level the "more" from frenzies don't have as much to scale. In cruel I went with swift killer for more deeps, and then around 70 I did merc lab and took ghost dance. After completing all the trials around 88 and gem level 19 I had uber lab open so I respeced swift killer before hand and took shade form. Ran uber and took swift killer again. The other ascendancies just don't have that much of value to the build so I wouldn't recommend them. We don't scale with cast speed really and don't have huge mana problems either.

This was just me and I didn't run uber lab until I already had a shav's lined up and waiting. If you're CI or LL lab traps can be a pain in the ass so I'd recommend doing uber lab before switching from hybrid.

Keep in mind while I'm SC I only died once and it was in T12 Vault (WAYYYYY After uber lab and such) to the boss because I didn't understand it so I assume the way I did it would work in HC as well.

Great info, and just in the knick of time too.

Much appreciated.

Can you easily swap from the life tree to CI or LL? On phone so cant compare easily for a while...

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Frinta wrote:

Can you easily swap from the life tree to CI or LL? On phone so cant compare easily for a while...

That depends on the level you decide to switch, the higher your level the more there is to respec. I needed 27 points to switch my trees around 87-88, so you shouldn't have too many problems if you do the side quests.

Did you switch to LL or CI? Also thanks for fast response

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Frinta wrote:

Did you switch to LL or CI? Also thanks for fast response

I went directly from life based to low life at level 90. Though the respect was intensive (I was solo self found, and didn't unlock the uber lab until 90). I'd recommend switching between 80 and 85, much sooner if you are willing to invest into the gear

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ProjectPT wrote:

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Frinta wrote:

Did you switch to LL or CI? Also thanks for fast response

I went directly from life based to low life at level 90. Though the respect was intensive (I was solo self found, and didn't unlock the uber lab until 90). I'd recommend switching between 80 and 85, much sooner if you are willing to invest into the gear

If you didnt play SSF and did this build now, would your final goal be LL or CI?

Energy shield is a quite new consept to me, and figured this build would be great to introduce myself to CI or LL.

Also the way i see it LL seems pretty risky with chaos damage if that spikes (without Shavs)

I'm CI and finished with the passive tree by yogi posted on this thread. Where would I go from there? ES wheel in the middle?

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Frinta wrote:

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ProjectPT wrote:

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Frinta wrote:

Did you switch to LL or CI? Also thanks for fast response

I went directly from life based to low life at level 90. Though the respect was intensive (I was solo self found, and didn't unlock the uber lab until 90). I'd recommend switching between 80 and 85, much sooner if you are willing to invest into the gear

If you didnt play SSF and did this build now, would your final goal be LL or CI?

Energy shield is a quite new consept to me, and figured this build would be great to introduce myself to CI or LL.

Also the way i see it LL seems pretty risky with chaos damage if that spikes (without Shavs)

You can not do LL without Shav's or Solaris lorica, (At least not in HC) You will die to Chaos damage eventually without them. The end goal should be LL because the damage from pain attunment is MASSIVE, it makes your five link a six link and your six link a seven. CI's only benefit over LL shav's is total ES pool at the cost of 30% MORE damage. If you can't afford it just go CI and it's still better than life, especially with the regen you get from ED with ZO you're just much tankier than on life. Get Vaal Discipline for those oh shit moments and you're set until shav's.

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GreyGoose wrote:

I'm CI and finished with the passive tree by yogi posted on this thread. Where would I go from there? ES wheel in the middle?

Yes, it's the last place to go for squeezing those last few levels, also consider leadership near the ES wheel (Aura cluster), if you are using blasphemy curses as that cluster will cause them to cover literally the entire screen.

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BokkoTheBunny wrote:

CI's only benefit over LL shav's is total ES pool at the cost of 30% MORE damage.

A ton MORE ES (the difference is about 30-40% depending on how good your regalia's ES is when compared to Shavronne's ES) and chaos damage immunity vs 30% MORE damage.

The choice is pretty difficult, honestly.

I'm a fan of CI over low life all the time.

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djnat wrote:

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BokkoTheBunny wrote:

CI's only benefit over LL shav's is total ES pool at the cost of 30% MORE damage.

A ton MORE ES (the difference is about 30-40% depending on how good your regalia's ES is when compared to Shavronne's ES) and chaos damage immunity vs 30% MORE damage.

The choice is pretty difficult, honestly.

I'm a fan of CI over low life all the time.

I never implied otherwise, but this build's defenses come MAJORLY from the curse auras, your HP/ES pool is mainly to prevent one shots which are already insanely mitigated by enfeeble + Curse eff. and easy to dodge manually thanks to TC + curse eff. This build has no need for the benefits of CI over LL imo. Getting damage is important for scaling CD poison, and bosses become massive problems when they don't die fast in high maps with dumb mods. Having an extra 4k won't stop the chain of events and the stars aligning to kill you in this build because it involves Extreme damage modifiers + hexproof/curse immune + a dot to prevent regen of ES + unawareness of these all at the same time.

I'm speaking from experience of playing the build in high maps, T15s will be a problem on a five link non shav's setup (unless you are running them blue/white) It is cheaper no doubt and obviously still powerful, but we don't have instant leech and other things that most ES builds go for. Shav's also has faster start of es regen which to my knowledge is not obtainable on rare pieces and is very noticeable. Running Discipline is also harder on CI because with the lack of enfeeble or TC defense starts lacking drastically which in turn causes you to invest into mana regen and mana reservation reduction to run all three.

I would agree that CI is in general more powerful for most builds, but I think the benefits of LL outweigh a couple thousand ES because you are investing 18 points into making it work versus 2 for LL. Speccing LL allows the removal of the damage from Atrophy in favor of acquiring skittering runes (AT ALL) and leadership sooner which are effective defense increases that just don't show by increasing total ES pool. For instance lv 20 enfeeble is boosted by 6% LESS damage taken from skittering runes, and 20% lv20 Temp Chains is 8% slower, while also increasing the duration of our ED and poison stacks by 8%.

Sorry for the essay, but figured I would voice my entire view on CI vs LL in this case. In the end shav's is more expensive (unless your 6-link 6ex regalia comes with a 12 ex empower.), for a better performing more powerful and reliable defense.