[1.0.6] CI Crit Dagger Shadow (30k DPS Flicker Ninja) [OB video up!]

Really looking forward to creating one of these. I have a question for anyone that's tried this though. In order to be able to at least solo docks at merci, what kind of gear am I looking to get? I've yet to make my shadow, but I have around 12 exalt to blow on gear that's needed.

You're gonna wanna drop 5 exalted on a really nice body armor, talking 500+ ES 5linked with 2-3 resists + mana. A shield with 300+ ES and similar helmet. After that 5-6 ex on a great 1handed dagger with 300+ max dmg and alot of the other stuff you can manage to work around with, but those are the most important pieces to start out with.

Buying the uniques like dream fragments and chayula aren't necessary, and in fact are really misunderstood by people in this thread/forum as being important when they really aren't. Sin Trek are cheap and effective, Maligaro's is 1-2 ex but you can also get ondar's clasp for dirt cheap just for the IAS on full life, the two gloves stack up pretty close.

"

Anamaeus wrote:

You're gonna wanna drop 5 exalted on a really nice body armor, talking 500+ ES 5linked with 2-3 resists + mana. A shield with 300+ ES and similar helmet. After that 5-6 ex on a great 1handed dagger with 300+ max dmg and alot of the other stuff you can manage to work around with, but those are the most important pieces to start out with.

Buying the uniques like dream fragments and chayula aren't necessary, and in fact are really misunderstood by people in this thread/forum as being important when they really aren't. Sin Trek are cheap and effective, Maligaro's is 1-2 ex but you can also get ondar's clasp for dirt cheap just for the IAS on full life, the two gloves stack up pretty close.

the stats you've posted for items with those affixes run for more than 5 exalts each

i find that chayula is necessary. dream fragments probably not, as you can still get chilled so flasks are a better substitute

a decent pair of maligaros run for 1 ex. you can get chayulas for 3 gcp or 1 exalt+ depending on the att.

"

Anamaeus wrote:

You're gonna wanna drop 5 exalted on a really nice body armor, talking 500+ ES 5linked with 2-3 resists + mana. A shield with 300+ ES and similar helmet. After that 5-6 ex on a great 1handed dagger with 300+ max dmg and alot of the other stuff you can manage to work around with, but those are the most important pieces to start out with.

Buying the uniques like dream fragments and chayula aren't necessary, and in fact are really misunderstood by people in this thread/forum as being important when they really aren't. Sin Trek are cheap and effective, Maligaro's is 1-2 ex but you can also get ondar's clasp for dirt cheap just for the IAS on full life, the two gloves stack up pretty close.

The ironic part is that I solo docks with everything worse than what you've listed. QQ

I found Eye of Chayula to be pretty necessary. Since stun calculations are still based off your hidden hp pool, running into a pack of voidbearers can be instakill. To be fair, I haven't tried merciless Docks without Chayula so I'm not really sure how much of a problem it can be.

Dream Fragments is optional, you can dodge or totally ignore the ice shot archers in docks. In maps it depends. Aside from that, a decent amount of ES, good damage, and max fire res will carry you through docks.

"

Xenrail wrote:

the stats you've posted for items with those affixes run for more than 5 exalts each

i find that chayula is necessary. dream fragments probably not, as you can still get chilled so flasks are a better substitute

a decent pair of maligaros run for 1 ex. you can get chayulas for 3 gcp or 1 exalt+ depending on the att.

Yea maybe last month, but if you search long enough with patience you will see a lot more deals opening up in the next couple of weeks.

Both the Eye and dream fragments are NOT necessary. Proper placement and kiting will prevent you from being stun locked ever. Relying on whirling is just going to get you trolled by desync so use a quicksilver and keep your feet moving. A flask of heat will prevent the cold. Maligaro's has and always will be over priced, even if they are the best. You can get ondar's clasp for an alch and have very similar dps numbers.

"

casval776 wrote:

The ironic part is that I solo docks with everything worse than what you've listed. QQ
I found Eye of Chayula to be pretty necessary. Since stun calculations are still based off your hidden hp pool, running into a pack of voidbearers can be instakill. To be fair, I haven't tried merciless Docks without Chayula so I'm not really sure how much of a problem it can be.

As have I for a good portion of my Shadow's career, though he was listing 12 exalted as a spending budget, while asking a generalization of what he should strive for by merci docks. Block & Stun recovery affixes still help this, even if you choose not to run Chayula. Voidbears are nasty when your fire res isn't capped, but really why would you run in to face tank voidbears in the first place? Just because I can doesn't mean I should. Proper placement awareness and kiting are pretty essential to playing this build I think as well as any semi-ranged/full ranged character.

Quick question, i'm looking at your build as an alternative to my claw one, specially for PvP since Crit seems a lot better there, only thing i dislike about is to be forced to use a shield, i really really dislike any builds playing with one, is it still workable while dual wielding?

"

GrieverZ wrote:

Quick question, i'm looking at your build as an alternative to my claw one, specially for PvP since Crit seems a lot better there, only thing i dislike about is to be forced to use a shield, i really really dislike any builds playing with one, is it still workable while dual wielding?

You're welcome to not use a shield, be it with a CI or health based build. But the tankiness that it adds is pretty massive, and you are a melee character. You have to weigh out what ~400+ unbuffed energy shield and block chance is going to give you versus the explicit damage modifiers that a second claw will have.

selling

looking for fast buyout offers

hardcore

ign:thirdwander

Am so stuck with my char now in end game. Still lacking ES-gear and this build is really not viable without proper gear when doing maps. Some maps are fine, while others are 2 hits = instadeath. Basically I cannot grind/farm for good gear, since the gear is too bad to be able to grind/farm properly. Need to stay at distance in PUGs and guess who's getting ninjad then :P

Atm I'm leveling a ranger with more survivability to be able to farm gear/orbs to support the shadow.

Am sure this shadowbuild will rock again if I can manage to get aprox >1500 more ES. Gear, gear, gear. :D

Same issue as boondoxsaints. This build is definitely a lot of fun to play solo, but the survivability is very poor in comparison to most other builds.

I'm tired of having to work 3x as hard as everyone else just to survive. The burst damage is amazing...when you're solo, against certain types of mobs. But there are too many other issues--can't keep Blood Rage up while grouping, plus the status ailments problem with ES (status ailments are calculated based on HP). Basically, this means: get into melee range of a mob -> stunned/chilled/frozen -> full duration -> chain-CC'd to death.

At present, it is absolutely mandatory to have a Chayula + Dream Fragments you hit 60+, IMO.

GGG really needs to look at how status ailments are calculated, and make changes for those who rely on ES as health. Forcing all ES users to wear Chayula/DF is lame.

For now, I'm retiring my Flicker Ninja and focusing on an Ele Ranger. Will come back to my ninja once I've farmed him up some better gear, but the thing is...like someone else said in this thread, with the kind of farming you have to do to make this build even viable in groups/maps, you could make another character godly to the point that it could easily solo maps...

Let me clarify, I love the concept of this build and mean no disrespect to Invalesco. I think the build suffered too heavily post-CI nerf.

I want to play a melee Shadow, but atm it doesn't really seem viable.