Shadow - [0.10.0] Low-Life/Pain Attunement Caster Shadow - Forum

" Inarion1986 wrote: Hey there, being a shadow player myself I read your guides both for caster and melee shadow. Recently I started a build similar to yours mentioned in the OP (I did not know about the cold-to-fire support at that time so I based it mainly on cold damage). And I eventually came to the point where I wondered whether to take wand or dagger (some +% spell damage versus lots of +% critical chance). Even though I thought the dagger would clearly outclass the wand I did some damage calculations with it. Now the surprise: In almost any scenario the worst wand (+8% spell damage) outdamages the standard dagger (+40% critical chance). Sometimes even the high-crit daggers with +80%. And wands with the highest modifier (+20% spell damage) are basically always the weapon of choice when it comes to raw dps-increase. (The 80%-dagger only starts to shine once you reach +250% or more(!) crit damage increase - this is pushed further if you also add more sources of +x% critical chance) I calculated this all based on an (imaginary) spell base damage of 100, base critical of 6% and base critical damage of 150%. Then I separately increased first base damage, then +% critical chance from other sources and finally +% critical damage and compared the average damage with +8%/+20% wand and +40%/+80% dagger to each other. I can provide tables and/or graphs if someone is interested. Of course my calculations do neither account for additional benefits of chosing one or the other weapon (ranged normal attack vs. possibility to use whirling blades!) nor do they include any thoughts on secondary effects of a high critical chance (freeze/burn/shock) but do only look at raw damage increase. So if that is what you're looking for, please equip a +20% wand and a +15% shield... :) whoa this is brilliant stuff! someone give this guy a medal! thanks mate, I'll include your quote in the guide :) Build of the Week 14 The first Righteous Fire/Non-Shavronne's/Shavronne's HC Shameless self-proclaimed theory-crafting extraordinaire and forum crusader	Posted by Invalesco on Aug 16, 2012, 11:09:13 AM Alpha Member Quote this Post
so which shadow build is the best now? can some1 give me a link of the proper spec and tell me which weapons to use IGN: Rakunish	Posted by Rakunish on Aug 25, 2012, 9:01:17 AM Quote this Post
could this frostfire spec also work on witch? IGN: Rakunish	Posted by Rakunish on Aug 25, 2012, 3:11:02 PM Quote this Post
" Rakunish wrote: so which shadow build is the best now? can some1 give me a link of the proper spec and tell me which weapons to use there is no best spec raku :) it all depends on which spec you particularly enjoy playing " Rakunish wrote: could this frostfire spec also work on witch? and yup! this spec works on witch as well :) Build of the Week 14 The first Righteous Fire/Non-Shavronne's/Shavronne's HC Shameless self-proclaimed theory-crafting extraordinaire and forum crusader	Posted by Invalesco on Aug 26, 2012, 8:55:51 AM Alpha Member Quote this Post
fine tuned it a little, added in the fact that added cold damage gem should be put in to boost the dps (thanks to petrov for bringing that up!) also put in the fact that the ice spear totem should have faster casting linked to it. i'm using faster casting but forgot to mention it here. sorry folks! edit: also considered the possibility of giving up the 50% crit dmg multiplier nodes in favour of bloodthirst, but decided against it as there's not much point in crit-ing more often when mobs are already burning Build of the Week 14 The first Righteous Fire/Non-Shavronne's/Shavronne's HC Shameless self-proclaimed theory-crafting extraordinaire and forum crusader Last edited by Invalesco on Aug 31, 2012, 7:07:59 AM	Posted by Invalesco on Aug 31, 2012, 6:49:43 AM Alpha Member Quote this Post
Kell - have you tried out going for the 60% burning damage nodes just a little further west between the templar and the witch starting zones, 2/3 of the way out of the centre of the skill tree? Petrov.	Posted by mrpetrov on Aug 31, 2012, 6:21:14 PM Alpha Member Quote this Post
heya petrov, yup! I have contemplated pyromanic as a possible node to go for and you're welcome to go for it as well, but atm i designed the build to end at around level 64 to make it attainable for most players and i chose the 50% crit dmg multiplier instead as ignite only happens when you crit anyway, and a higher crit dmg multiplier will deal both increased overall damage as well as increased burning damage, which will prob result in an overall higher dps as compared to just the burning damage alone. Build of the Week 14 The first Righteous Fire/Non-Shavronne's/Shavronne's HC Shameless self-proclaimed theory-crafting extraordinaire and forum crusader	Posted by Invalesco on Aug 31, 2012, 6:39:27 PM Alpha Member Quote this Post
nice build.... but a witch gets more int points from lvl up.....there4 more dmg on a witch wit it but nice try....just for the look	Posted by RoterRamses on Sep 1, 2012, 4:44:09 AM Quote this Post
" RoterRamses wrote: nice build.... but a witch gets more int points from lvl up.....there4 more dmg on a witch wit it but nice try....just for the look do witches get more int points from levelling up? i doubt that. and int doesn't affect damage. only affects es and mana Build of the Week 14 The first Righteous Fire/Non-Shavronne's/Shavronne's HC Shameless self-proclaimed theory-crafting extraordinaire and forum crusader	Posted by Invalesco on Sep 1, 2012, 6:06:27 AM Alpha Member Quote this Post
" Invalesco wrote: " RoterRamses wrote: nice build.... but a witch gets more int points from lvl up.....there4 more dmg on a witch wit it but nice try....just for the look do witches get more int points from levelling up? i doubt that. and int doesn't affect damage. only affects es and mana Nobody gains stat points from levelling up, only from using passive skill points, although Witches do start with 8 more base int. Also, int doesn't have an effect on spell damage, as Invalesco pointed out. This build would work with a Witch to the same effect (as it hits on a Witch's starting nodes too), but the early/mid game would play differently due to the different starting place. And especially when it comes to hardcore, a build must be viable at all stages of the game, not just once it's completed. EDIT: not to say that starting as Witch would necessarily make the build not viable, as I wouldn't be able to know that without testing. Last edited by Aplier on Sep 1, 2012, 7:48:23 AM	Posted by Aplier on Sep 1, 2012, 7:42:45 AM Quote this Post