[3.2] Titan [16K ES, 1M DPS, 10K ES/sec, Deathless Uber Elder, Shaper on 1L, All map mods]

Tested lightning strike.

Pros vs. Frost Blades:
-can attack in place and offscreen stuff.
-better single target with the melee hit (nice vs tanky rares or map bosses which aren't worth a BF swap)

Cons:
-slightly worse projectile damage
-projectiles don't autotarget
-projectiles hit ground objects. This is actually a pretty big downside. There's so much crap that blocks LS projectiles, including abyss holes. I feel FB is superior entirely due to this.


Have also been testing dual wield HOWAs for clearing, feels like a significant improvement over a shield. In PoB I lose 17% of my ES to gain 27% more DPS and the 10% more AS is pretty nice for whirling around.

Yeah I just tried Lightning Strike for myself and it feels like total arseholes. Nuts to that idea.

I like the idea of this build, being a super boss clearer with BF, but BF being lousy at clear feels pretty bad.

Fun build concept. Changed it to run with stun avoidance over RT/Brine King, run dual claws, and to use ST. Al

Probably would of been better off just sticking with BF since it is cheaper and all I use the character for is shaper/guardians/Uber lab.

Still the build has great clear and can do Shaper/Guardians.

"

aimlessgun wrote:

Tested lightning strike.

Pros vs. Frost Blades:
-can attack in place and offscreen stuff.
-better single target with the melee hit (nice vs tanky rares or map bosses which aren't worth a BF swap)

Cons:
-slightly worse projectile damage
-projectiles don't autotarget
-projectiles hit ground objects. This is actually a pretty big downside. There's so much crap that blocks LS projectiles, including abyss holes. I feel FB is superior entirely due to this.


Have also been testing dual wield HOWAs for clearing, feels like a significant improvement over a shield. In PoB I lose 17% of my ES to gain 27% more DPS and the 10% more AS is pretty nice for whirling around.

Having to try and play more open maps, + not being able to AOE around abysses is definitely a deal breaker. My current setup won't have enough resistances to run DW HOWAs, but maybe if I swapped out Darkness Enthroned I'd be ok.

Despite Lightning Strike being a washout I'm thinking of trying this general concept (CI, HoWA, ZO, Inquisitor with regen instead of crit) with either Molten Strike+Ancestral Call or Spectral Throw, now. Spectral Throw would probably have better clear (even as absurd as MS+AC is), but I'd have to swap in Slower Proj for bosses, whereas with MS+AC i could leave the gems as is and just use the force attack trick to get good DPS.

You guys need one of these. Essentially a 6-link frost blades. Using it to speed clear shaped vault and BF for the boss.

Also wearing Bisco's and 45% IIQ

Up to 8k es now with Incandescent heart.
20% quality lvl 19 gems for the most part.

Unfortunately Brine King and Pious Path don't work in Elder or Grandmasters.
I died with my ES still up in Grandmasters, despite CI. That was an interesting one.
Also got stun locked 5 times in 3 seconds, shouldn't be possible with Brine King Pantheon but it happened all the same.
To top it all off, Pious Path doesn't remove ailments like frozen when you use a Sulfur flask to get consecrated ground under you. so get used to the elemental ailments.

Results: Don't waste your time with the Brine King version of the build, it cannot clear all content. Not by a large mile. Arakali version costs 35+ exalts, as Watcher's eye with the desired mods goes for 29 and a 6link Inc. heart is 7+

Having played a lot with both versions of the build, I would definitely recommend switching over to the Arakaali version once your gear is somewhat decent and you're pretty leveled (I switched around 87).

That being said, I had no problems with running solo running most map mods other than ele reflect (hard if you don't have a really large ES buffer) on maps up to tier 12 before switching from Brine King. It actually worked quite well for me as a progression, because I took some extra resist passives as well as max ES to shore up my cheap gear to start, then when I got a 5L Incandescent Heart and more ES from gear and jewels, I respec'd to Unwavering stance and then finally towards our final jewel spots.

As far as cost, probably the most expensive piece of gear I've bought is the HoWa and that was only because it was still quite early in the league. Even considering I paid over 30c for that, I'm only 2ex in to the build.

Although a few insanely powerful items like a Watcher's Eye with Max Mana to ES with Clarity/Added Lightning Dmg with Wrath are very, very expensive, they don't seem to be at all required. HoWas are cheap at this point in the league, you can pick up well-rolled Astramentis for not too much, and Shaper's touch are dirt cheap.

If you're looking to clear almost any maps without deaths, it definitely seems readily doable with this build. I'd say the biggest drawback for many people will be the average AoE and map clearing speed without a 6L. You have very little issue with bosses because of the very high single target sustained DPS as well as a ton of elemental mitigation.

"

Verg93 wrote:

You guys need one of these. Essentially a 6-link frost blades. Using it to speed clear shaped vault and BF for the boss.

Also wearing Bisco's and 45% IIQ

I'm thinking there aren't that many of those around :p

"

GAlexander wrote:

Having played a lot with both versions of the build, I would definitely recommend switching over to the Arakaali version once your gear is somewhat decent and you're pretty leveled (I switched around 87).

Another option from the Arakaali passive setup in the OP is to not get Unwavering and use a Valyrium. Not total stun immunity, but US has a pretty big downside that you can't evade anymore. In Abyss league everyone has easy access to blind, you can permablind pretty much every boss with a single prop on one jewel. So giving up 50% chance to evade attacks is like...a fairly large loss of tankiness. Also you can swap back to Brine King with 2 clicks.

"

Aucky wrote:

Ok, its a good build and kills bosses really easily. But man oh man, its slow going.

Came to say this. The build isn't bad but it should be made clear that it isn't a budget build and it has terrible clear speed. Listed fast clear speed in the pros section is just wrong. Also, in Hardcore Abyss, the gear is insanely expensive.