Z's **0.9.12** LS CI GR! Spec

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**Updated for lvl 50. Spell dmg was fun up to Merci but has been dropped to focus on evasion, STR & HP passives. Still working with both Eshield & Evasion & Block till proven otherwise :)

**Tweaks for ES & Mana passives

**Updated for lvl 55. I decided to bring back the fire damage passives. 1 fire dmg node & Blaze + added fire dmg increased dps about 500 instantly.

**Updated for lvl 60. Strength restrictions will no longer be an issue with Titanic Might.

**Updated for lvl 62. Accuracy & the final 20% crit.

**Updated for lvl 65. Switched around mana nodes for Deep Thoughts. Acquired Freeze.

Offense from LS is great right now. Pushing 4k with 4 frenzy charges on Merciless-Ship GY**with a lvl 41 Dagger** . I guess its worth noting that I found a Steel Armguard in my stash that gives 12% IAS.

As to what you posted, it speaks to the versatility of LS. I have no projectile passives or skills & it remains highly effective. Elemental Weapon Damage passives & the support gem skyrocket the damage. Melee Phys support gem is a close second.

STR is my bottleneck right now. Ive squeezed just about as much as I can from current gear & will have to trend towards STR nodes.

My HP is rather low & Chaos DMG gives me nightmares. Mana is low but Im at the nice Mana % Increase & Recovery passives.

The big test will be Evasion to Energy Shield balance.

At level 59 & successfully cleared 2 Chaos maps alone, with 1 death. This spec is far more effective at lvl 59 than anything I did on my duelist. I really did not expect this output until lvl 65.

Of course there is room to improve. Still using a lvl 41 dagger, do not have Lightning maxed & Viper dots are my bane.

This build is complete. Overwhelming firepower from Lightning Strike greatly reduces the need for more defense. This character at lvl 62 is hands down better than my 71 duelist ever was. Both characters are wearing essentially the same gear & gems. Both characters approach combat the same.

It has actually exceeded expectations for chaos. The combination of lightning strike reaching 6k, 63% evasion, 46% block(sans tempest) & 1700 energy shield makes solo chaos a breeze. 100/200 mf chaos runs are doable now.

There is enough breathing room to use fun totem combinations & mess around without fear of dying at any moment. The skill tree provides more potential & greater options for the shadow.

Shadow is just better at everything when compared to a duelist. In short, playing a shadow is more fun.

Will probably remain lvl 62 for farming purposes till the end of OB. Any additional passives will thrown into crit, the icing on the cake.

I hope this info has proved helpful.

In the process of leveling to 65 I managed to comfortably push Lightning Strike to 9.2k with 3.5 aps with this spec. Hopefully .9.11 will maintain this spec's dps output. Its as glassy as a glass cannon can get & way fun.

Revitalizing this thread as many changes have taken place. Lightning Strike got nerfed, yes. But I figured out a way to actually get stronger thanks to better mana leech, some evasion & CI.

I tested this in a crazy ass rare map with temporal chains cursing us, the entire fking floor being on fire, mobs doing 90% more fire dmg, a Skelly Rhoa boss & gdamned sea witches paired with dogs that set even more ground on fire.

Since LS has 3.5aps, the slowed attack was manageable. The mobs were dying quick with additional elemental status effects. I would very much like to get extended burn duration passives. I believe this would polish off every enemy ignited from 1 LS hit.

There is much to be tested still & I will keep this thread updated.

**Notable Changes**

-LS went down 2.2k dps to an even 7000. The aps change was negligible.

-Mana is less of an issue. The boost in phys dmg passives were enough to sustain LS attacks against enemies without ES. More mana is desired.

-Chaos Innoculation is totally new to me but I already love it. My survivability went up substantially. Need more es recovery. An additional 15% es passive is very close.

-Critical Strike chance went up SEVEN %!!11 32% chance to crit.