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

Did you have a chance to race in the resistance penalty league? I am curious if it is still worth it to get the skill point from bandits or if getting the +8% to all resists will now be better (due to the lack of resists available to shadows).

In your post, you mentioned that you would prefer to just have ES regen. Now that you have had time to test GR, are you more willing to drop the ES regen nodes in favor of DPS nodes, or do you still prefer a mix of both?

Thanks again for the guide~

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spiritplx wrote:

Did you have a chance to race in the resistance penalty league? I am curious if it is still worth it to get the skill point from bandits or if getting the +8% to all resists will now be better (due to the lack of resists available to shadows).

In your post, you mentioned that you would prefer to just have ES regen. Now that you have had time to test GR, are you more willing to drop the ES regen nodes in favor of DPS nodes, or do you still prefer a mix of both?

Thanks again for the guide~

heya! uni has started unfortunately so i had to give the last race a miss.

judging from what i've heard from my friends who did race, it wasn't that difficult to get max resists from gear alone.

hence, my advice: +32% to all resists isn't that tough to get gear-wise and if you're not racing and have the time to go slow but steady and enjoy the max potential of this build, go for the extra skill points. BUT if you're in a race, speed is everything and that +4 extra points will pale in comparison to the importance of levelling fast. In a race, I would advise siding with Kraitlyn for the extra +resists to all.

Now that I have had time to test GR, especially in the 1 week race 2 weeks ago, I still believe that ES regen is better than GR as a single 15% increased ES recovery node is worth more than any small increased DPS node around. That said, the presence of GR now allows me to drop 1-2 more ES regen nodes than I would previously have liked. I still prefer a mix however. If you want to drop ES regen nodes, I would advice having at least +80% ES recovery as bare minimum for a good balance.

you're welcome :)

changed colours of item links a little to accommodate my curse of choice - critical weakness, which complements the build nicely.

Some updates

1. Changed the end-end-game build to accommodate some defensive options such as crystal skin, evasion per frenzy charge, and an additional frenzy charge for increased defence in terms of evasion rating and DPS

2. Decided to go for a Viper Strike + Additional accuracy combo instead of an Elemental Hit + Mana Leech combo as Viper Strike takes up much less mana, and I've also found that Chaos damage is much more useful as compared with Elemental damage against bosses like Oak, especially since there are so many ele resist mobs out there.

3. Changed gears around a little to try and max resists in view of the coming resistance penalties as well as to improve dps. managed to achieve both so quite pleased. updated in-game screens are in OP. Flicker DPS has improved from 23k - almost 28k. LS Dps has gone from 8.7k to 10k.

4. Changed flask strategies a little to accommodate the new resistance penalties. Going to stick with 1 Surgeon's Granite Flask of Iron Skin but the other 2 Granite Flasks will be Surgeon's Granite Flasks of Resistance. 4.8 Seconds of >24% increased resistances is enough time to tank and annihilate elemental mobs

Resistance Penalties

As all or most of you may know, resistance penalties will kick in soon with the -60 resistance penalty for merci kicking in sometime next week.

Will that affect this build?
My answer: in the early phase of the game, you might want to take some resistance nodes and respec them after. In late game however, it should not affect, but your priorities will be difference if you're in a HC race as opposed to not being in a HC race.

If you are in a HC race, go for kraitlyn for the extra 4x8% resists as you will be trying to level as fast as possible and in all honesty, the 4 extra skill points won't make much of a difference as a race is a short-term event rather than a long-term one.

If you are not racing, just kill all the bandits for the extra skill point rather than the +4x8% resists as you will have plenty of time to farm for resistance gears. your DPS need not be affected if you can find the right pieces of gear.

In addition, I've changed the gameplay style slightly in terms of the usage of flasks. Granite flasks of Resistance will come in more handy now and those will be helpful.


Is it important to max resists in a CI character?

Not really, it doesn't matter even if you max resists, you will still get status ailments because what decides your getting status ailments depends on how high the percentage is in terms of (the damage you receive)/(Total HP). and since most CI users have low would-be HP, even the 75% reduced damage you receive if you had 75% resists will still cause status ailments. In other words, resists will just serve to reduce the damage you receive. If you have a high enough ES, this won't matter that much. It's nice to have max resists, but there's no need to be too obsessed over it :)

added another video link of Invalesco's gameplay footage as was featured in Reaper's Exile of the Week 2.

this video has much better graphics and does much more justice to the build in terms of gameplay footage.

videos were taken in Rare maps - a level 64 (coves), level 63 (shore) and level 61 (tropical island) so it's pretty much the fairest indication of how this build would fare in difficult end-game content.

Nice build, I hope to see more shadows rank high in 1week races, good luck.

After being inspired by Inva's build and having a chat with him for more ideas in-game, I put together a very similar build from the Ranger starting area.

I am considering respeccing my 74 Bow Ranger to this build post 0.9.13 to try it out before OB.

This build is a bit more dps focused, with less ES and slightly less accuracy than Inva's build - and costs an extra level to reach it. But it packs more punch and, in particular, crit dmg multiplier - which may be overkill if you have high end gear like Inva's already.

The net differences in this Ranger build compared to Inva's Shadow build in the OP are:

+1 extra node cost
+2% IAS
+14% phys dmg
+90% crit dmg mult
+18% frenzy duration
+10 dex
+3% block chance
-40 int
-10% accuracy
-18% energy shield
-15% ES cooldown delay
-3% movement speed

Petrov's 0.9.12 Ranger Version of Inva's Build

Thanks again Inva for a brilliant guide and inspiration.

Petrov.

PS I didn't post this in the Ranger forum because it is derived from the Shadow build - so I thought you guys might be interested.

PPS There are also some tempting shield block nodes right near the Ranger starting zone which could deliver +6% block chance and +50% defences from shield for just 3 nodes. You could consider dropping a couple of ES recovery nodes and one 8% ES node for this...

EDIT: After chatting with Islidoxxxxx I've reincoporporated the 3x shield block nodes under Ghost Reaver and got rid of the 3 nodes used to get Mental Accuity.

Interesting build, but how do you plan to progress ? CI is pretty far away from the ranger start ( I counted 28 nodes from the ones you used ) and you invest nothing in life.

I guess you will have to pick some life until you go CI ( there is 50% life near to your starting area ), and then spec out of it.

I think you should post the build to the ranger thread too, after all it is a ranger :)

Since the qq patch is nerfing flicker damage and ES recharge, how does that change things for the build?

Also since resistances have been nerfed....oh man.