First off, this build is not easy to make, nor to level. If you are playing this from a hardcore league, you will have trouble unless you have considerable resources from previous adventures and allies in the land of Wraeclast. Ultimately you will seek to complete the big 3: Chaos Innoculation, Vaal Pact and Ghost Reaver. The build does not truly take off until you reach these 3 keystones and the usage of them will require a considerable amount of money.
Until then, you will start off with a standard life build until you are confident in your ability to transition into CI. Let's consider what builds are optimal for this start-up.
The Duelist Starting Tree
The Duelist is a very powerful start for anyone considering a physical damage build. He offers high survivability, early access to Iron Reflexes + Unwavering Stance and great early damage from a melee perspective. In all regards he is a superior build, however he is extremely point consuming. The Duelist starting area of the skill tree is powerful yet difficult to traverse, you will take around 26 points to exit his awesome area and onto the ”main” CI highway. If you are looking for early power, but a build suited for late game potential with a difficult CI transition, the Duelist is the optimal build. With a lot of efficiency in a large point investment, the Duelist is perfect for those looking to succeed in the late-game (level 90+).
The Shadow Starting Tree
The Shadow on the other hand, emphasizes extreme flexibility. He takes only 10 points (13 points if you count the life you respec out of later) to be on his way to CI and the crit passives, which gives him a lot of room to move around the tree and pick up life passives at his leisure. In contrast to the duelist who will stay in his area for awhile, the shadow can be almost ready to transition to CI by level 50! This is not recommended as you still need to reach required gear levels first though. If you are looking for a quick CI transition, are willing to have a harder time levelling but wish to experience the mapping end-game at it's finest between level 70-90, the Shadow is the start for you. The Shadow is onyl marginally weaker than the Duelist but gets started a lot faster.
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Planning and Preparations: The Skill Gems You Need to Level or Get
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The Complete Skill Gem List (Ordered by Priority)
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Duelist Gems:
|Normal Difficulty
|*Reave(A1: Mercy Mission)/ *Double Strike(A1: Enemy at the Gate)
|Hatred (A1: The Caged Brute)
|Flicker Strike (A2: Intruders in Black)
|**Melee Splash (A2: Sharp & Cruel)
|Melee Damage on Full Life (A2: Sharp & Cruel) (A3: Sever the Right Hand)
|Optional Gems you can also pick up: Added Fire (A1: The Siren's Cadence), Enduring Cry (A3: Lost in Love)
|Cruel Difficulty
|Determination (A1: Enemy at the Gate)
|Melee Physical Damage (A1: Mercy Mission)
|*Lightning Strike (A1: The Caged Brute)
|Grace (A1: The Caged Brute)
|Faster Attacks (A1: The Siren's Cadence) (A2: Sharp & Cruel)
|Blood Rage (A3: Lost in Love)
|Optional Gems you can also pick up: Life Leech or Mana Leech (A2: Sharp & Cruel) or (A3: Sever the Right Hand)
|Merciless Difficulty
At this point the Duelist is finished with all the skill gems he can acquire from his own questline. You will still need a few skill gems that must be acquired from making a different character or purchasing from other players. Most of the skill gems can be acquired at reasonable prices: 1 alchemy orb/1 fusing orb or 4 jewellers or 8 alterations, give or take.
Duelist Gem List from Quest
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Required Gems from Outside Questline
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Optional Gems for Late-game Utility/Interest
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Shadow Gems:
|Normal Difficulty
|*Double Strike (A1: Starting Skill from killing zombie)
|*Reave (A1: Enemy at the Gate)
|Whirling Blades (A1: Breaking Some Eggs)
|Flicker Strike (A1: The Caged Brute)
|Increased Critical Damage (A1: The Siren's Cadence)
|Critical Weakness (A2: Intruders in Black)
|**Melee Splash (A2: Sharp & Cruel)
|*Lightning Strike (A3: Lost in Love)
|Optional Gems you can also pick up: Power Charge on Critical (A2: Sharp & Cruel), Enfeeble (A3: Lost in Love)
|Cruel Difficulty
|***Discipline or Grace (A1: Enemy at the Gate)
|Blood Rage (A1: The Caged Brute)
|Increased Duration (A1: The Siren's Cadence)
|Faster Attacks (A2: Sharp & Cruel)
|Optional Gems you can also pick up: Life Leech (A1: Mercy Mission), Faster Casting (A2: Sharp & Cruel)(A3: Sever the Right Hand), Mana Leech (A2: Sharp & Cruel)(A3: Sever the Right Hand)
|Merciless Difficulty
|Melee Damage on Full Life (A1: Mercy Mission)
|Optional Gems you can also pick up: Lightning Warp (A1: The Caged Brute), Additional Accuracy, Faster Casting, Mana Leech, Faster Attacks in plentiful amounts from the rest of the quests.
Shadow Gem List From Questline
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Required Gems From Outside Questline
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Optional Gems for Late-game utility/Interest
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*You only need one of the main attack skills for late-game, so if you are interested in a different skil then you do not need to take another.
**The Melee Splash skill support gem only required for the Double Strike + Melee Splash variant of the build. If you are not intending to use this build then you can take other gems.
***Unfortunately the Shadow can only take one or the other, you will only be able to get these two once, and after that you need to buy the one you missed. I personally recommend getting Discipline early and level it, worry about Grace later.
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The Choice: Reave, Lightning Strike or Double Strike Melee Splash?
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Currently there are 3 main clearing skills that the dagger can utilize, all with their individual benefits and damage output . We will consider which ones are the best suited for you in this section, before you start levelling a character. The assessment is considered relative to the other options.
The main criteria for evaluating a skill will include:
1) The damage output and clear speed
2) The overall flexibility and feel of the skill
3) The utility of the skill and what it brings to the party
4) The effectiveness of the skill at various gear benchmarks
5) Damage:Mana efficiency and output
So let's get started with the old classic:
Lightning Strike *(quick reminder, if you use this skill change your skill tree up to drop 'Coordination' and instead connect with 'Arcing Blows' and a dex node inside the Shadow Tree)
>Damage Output/Clear Speed: Average
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>Flexibility and Feel: High
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>Utility: High
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>Gear:Effectiveness: Low
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>Damage:Mana: Average
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Double Strike + Melee Splash
>Damage Output/Clear Speed: Average
SPOILER MISSING
>Flexibility and Feel: Average
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>Utility: Low
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>Gear:Effectiveness: High
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>Damage:Mana: Low
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Reave
>Damage Output/Clear Speed: High
SPOILER MISSING
>Flexibility and Feel: Average
SPOILER MISSING
>Utility: Low
SPOILER MISSING
>Gear:Effectiveness: Average
SPOILER MISSING
>Damage:Mana: High
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The Journey
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The Path of the Duelist
From very early on, it becomes apparent that the duelist is a melee specialist. With a great early starting tree and a large lack of crit passives until he gets to the Shadow tree at the very late phase in the game, the best bet is actually not to start with daggers. Pick up a sword, maybe an axe, and use dual wield Cleave to carry you through the game. Once you reach the Shadow's critical strike talents you can consider switching to the dagger if you are confident that your DPS is higher. Leveling the Cleave Duelist should be very solid, he does considerable DPS with very few damage passives aside from the ones you start off with.
If you are not confident in your survivability, it is recommended that you ask for party assistance when doing the following areas: Act 1 Prison (Brutus), Act 2 Chamber of Sins (Fidelitas), Act 2 Weaver's Chambers (The Weaver), Act 2 Bandits (Alira, Kraityn, Oak), Act 2 Ancient Pyramid (Vaal Oversoul), Act 3 Crematorium (Piety), Act 3 Barracks (Gravicious) and Act 3 Lunaris Temple (Piety).
Otherwise it is very quick and easy to level the duelist, I will not elaborate too much on it. It is possible to use melee splash/reave/lightning strike as soon as you get them however I feel that cleave should be competetive in DPS and easy of use until at least level 40.
The Path of the Shadow
Overall, the shadow is considerably more disadvantaged than the duelist in almost all early level aspects. He gets less early health, less early damage and less early mana sustain. However he can pick up most o fthe important crit talents early on and spec into daggers as soon as he starts up. You will not have access to cleave and will most likely require the help of a party to clear your quests and even grind with you at the main farming areas.
If you do not wish to use melee to level as shadow, you can also get extremely early access to Freeze Pulse + Lesser Multiple Projectiles which can be extremely powerful until level 50. If you get extra nodes for spell damage you can have a much easier time levelling, though a bit harder time transitioning since you will spend a bit of currency taking more points out.
In addition to this, the Shadow can do quite well until level 30 using a combination of Fire Traps + Poison Arrow. The Damage over time components of these skills provide and efficient levelling experience as you will kill mobs without needing to spend extra time on them; simply dropping a trap and shooting a cloud of poison will leave a pile of corpses in your wake. For bosses you can even have a weapon swap with Viper Strike for extra poison on bosses. However you may have a hard time grinding zones with this set-up as the skills tend to taper off without much focus into making them strong, so you will eventually resort to different skills to grind mobs in safer areas.
The Level Progession
Normal Difficulty
| 1-7 | Make your way to the Ledge and farm there for a bit. Side quests can be completed, but stay away from Fetid Pool in all difficulties until you are very strong.
| 8/9 | Reach Brutus and kill him
| 9-12 | Skip Ship Graveyard if you are not confident, farm the Coves
| 12/13 | Reach Merveil and kill her, proceeding to act 2
| 13-15 | Catch up on levels in the Forest, otherwise continue onto the questline
| 16-20 | Go southwest through River Crossings, Dark Forest and Western Forest. Complete The Way Forward for extra skill point and level up from the dense mob packs in the these areas
| 20/21 | Go northeast to finish the Intruders in Black as well as return to Dark Forest to finish Sharp and Cruel in the Weaver's Chambers.
| 21/22 | Traverse the Vaal Ruins and reach Pools and Streams, Double back and kill the bandits
Bandit Reward in Normal
Help Oak: +40 Life
Help Alira: +40 Mana
Help Kraityn: +8 all resistances
Kill All: 1 Skill Point
| 23/24 | Reach the top of the Ancient Pyramid and destroy Vaal Oversoul, proceeding to act 3.
| 23-27 | Farm the City of Sarn and try to cap out your fire/lightning resistance before moving on. Avoid the top of the map! A certain dangerous trapper lives there.
| 27/28 | Save Clarissa in Sarn Slums and continue on to find Tolman in Crematorium. This will be your first fight against Piety. Be careful!
| 28/29 | Rush through the Sewers, Warehouses, Marketplace and Battlefront and reach the Docks. You can choose to look for the busts and recieve your skill point but you can also come back to it
| 28-34 | Farm Docks. When you are ready to leave, find the Thaumetic Sulphite from the flaming crate.
| 33/34 | Return to Battlefront and retrieve the Ribbon Spool from the blackguards
| 33/34 | Go North to the Solaris Temple. Reaching the final floor will take very long
| 34/35 | After receiving the Infernal Talc from lady Dahlia, return to the Warehouse Sewers and burn the Undying Blockage. Continue to Barracks.
| 35 | Kill Gravicious. Continue through Lunaris Temple and make your way to Piety. Complete the first difficulty.
Cruel Difficulty
| 35-38 | Skip Tidal Island and rush over to the Ledge, proceed to farm and complete side quests if you are confident.
| 38/39 | You can reliably complete Act 1 with a party during these levels. Skip Coves farming and rush to act 2.
| 39-44 | Skip the Forest, Make your way north this time (chaos damage in south is scary) and farm the Fellshrine. Avoid the rocks in this area. Chamber of Sins level 1 is also a strong alternative.
| 45/46 | Proceed to complete the rest of your quests in short order, take advantage of parties.
Bandit Reward in Cruel
Help Oak: +18% Increased Physical Damage
Help Alira: +8% Cast Speed
Help Kraityn: +8% Attack Speed
Kill All: 1 Skill Point
*Unlike Normal, Cruel has a variety of options. In General, Oak will be best for a build expecting optimal gear. Kraityn will help with attack speeds at low levels of gear and the Skill Point emphasizes flexibility in the build.
| 45/46 | Kill Vaal Oversoul again, proceed to act 3.
| 45-50 | Farm City of Sarn until you feel confident you can rush the rest of the act.
| 49/50 | Skip Cruel Docks, you can pretty much rush the rest of the act without needing to farm there.
| 50 | You can reliably kill piety in a party at this level. Proceed to Merciless.
Merciless Difficulty
| 50-55 | Gain enough levels in the Ledge to finish the entire act, skip all sidezones.
| 55-60 | Again, make a beeline for Fellshrine while skipping all sidezones. Rocks are still a pain. You can still do Chamber of Sins level 1 if you are having trouble here.
Bandit Reward in Merciless
Help Oak: +1 Endurance Charge
Help Alira: +1 Power Charge
Help Kraityn: +1 Frenzy Charge
Kill All: 1 Skill Point
*Again, there is very much choice in the reward. In general, Oak will emphasize survivability while Kraityn will help you leverage your DPS. If you seek to include power charges in your build, Alira is also a good choice. Again, you can also take a skill point for flexibility.
| 60-65 | You can jack a party teleport to Docks and grind there. Alternatively the City of Sarn is very optimal for exp as well.
| 65-70 | You can continue with Docks/Sarn but doing low level maps is also an option if you have the gear for it.
| 71+ | Late-game, you can do whatever maps you feel like as long as your gear levels keep up.
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The Transition to the Big Three
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Personally I feel the best time to transition is at exactly level 70. This is where the highest tier Armour/Energy Shield gear for the build comes into play: the Saintly Chainmail. As a build that requires a very diverse combination of colours to maximize effectiveness, you almost always need to use this piece of hybrid gear to roll the proper colours. This is also completely up to your own ability to acquire gear. If you can get about 800-900 combined ES from your armour then it would be alright to respec into CI and you can get over 3k ES pool, which is fine for early maps. Keep in mind that depending on skill points taken from the Bandit Rewards, you can be down a few points from the transition.
Duelist Transition at level 70
Start → End
Shadow Transition at level 70
Start → End
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Gearing Up
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As with any build, you want a certain amount of mods on everything to get the best possible survivability and DPS. This will be a short section (comperatively) on what mods on each piece of gear should be a priority and I will provide my gear as something to compare with.
Dagger Target Physical DPS and Crit Chance: 200+ / 8%+
Optimal Base Item: Ambusher, Imperial Skean, Demon Dagger, Slaughter Knife is ok
% Increased Physical Damage / % Increased Physical Damage+Accuracy
Adds #-# Physical Damage
% Increased Critical Strike Chance
% Increased Attack Speed
% Global Critical Strike Multiplier
Chest Armour Target Energy Shield: 500+
Optimal Base Item: Saintly Chainmail, Carnal Armour, Vaal Regalia are fine depending on what colours you are preferring
% Increased Armour/Evasion/Energy Shield / % Increased Armour/Evasion/Energy Shield + Block & Stun Recovery
+% to Maximum Energy Shield
Fire/Lightning/Cold Resistances
Intelligence, Strength*
Helmet Target Energy Shield: 300+
Optimal Base Item: Hubris Circlet, Deicide Mask, Praetor Crown, Vaal Mask and Prophet Crown can be good too
% Increased Armour/Evasion/Energy Shield / % Increased Armour/Evasion/Energy Shield + Block & Stun Recovery
+# to Maximum Energy Shield
Fire/Lightning/Cold Resistances
Intelligence, Strength*
Accuracy
Gloves Target Energy Shield: 100+
Optimal Base Item: Sorcerer Gloves, Murder Mitts, Crusader Gloves
% Increased Armour/Evasion/Energy Shield / % Increased Armour/Evasion/Energy Shield + Block & Stun Recovery
+# to Maximum Energy Shield
Fire/Lightning/Cold Resistances
Intelligence, Strength*
Accuracy
Attack Speed
Maligaro's Virtuosity is also a glove of choice for some people
Boots Target Energy Shield: 100+
Optimal Base Item: Sorcerer Boots, Murder Boots, Crusader Boots
% Increased Armour/Evasion/Energy Shield / % Increased Armour/Evasion/Energy Shield + Block & Stun Recovery
+# to Maximum Energy Shield
Fire/Lightning/Cold Resistances
Intelligence, Strength*
Movement Speed
Rainbowstride is a popular boot choice for most players.
Shield Target Energy Shield: 400+
Optimal Base Item: Titanium Spirit Shield, Archon Kite Shield, Supreme Spiked Shield
% Increased Armour/Evasion/Energy Shield / % Increased Armour/Evasion/Energy Shield + Block & Stun Recovery
+# to Maximum Energy Shield
Fire/Lightning/Cold Resistances
Intelligence, Strength*
Belt
Optimal Base Item: Rustic Sash, Chain Belt, Heavy Belt can be choices
Armour
Max Energy Shield
Strength
Fire/Lightning/Cold Resistances
Weapon Elemental Damage
Rings
Optimal Base Item: Anything except Coral/Gold/Amethyst Ring
Attack Speed
Fire/Lightning/Cold Resistances
#-# Physical Damage
Mana Leech
Intelligence, Strength*
+ Maximum Energy Shield
Weapon Elemental Damage
Life Leech
Dream Fragments is near mandatory for this build
Amulets
Optimal Base Item: Anything except Coral/Gold Amulet
% Increased Global Critical Strike Multiplier
% Increased Maximum Energy Shield
#-# Physical Damage
Fire/Lightning/Cold Resistances
Intelligence, Strength*
+ Maximum Energy Shield
Weapon Elemental Damage
Life Leech
Flasks
Surgeon's Granite Flask of Iron Skin
Surgeon's Topaz Flask of Grounding
Surgeon's Quicksilver Flask of Adrenaline
Surgeon's Quicksilver/Granite Flask of Staunching
Surgeon's Granite/Ruby Flask of Warding
Get these exact flasks.
My Current Gear for an idea of what to look for
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6 Link:
Reave/Lightning Strike/Double Strike
Multistrike
Melee Damage on Full Life
Melee Physical Damage/Melee Splash
Increased Critical Damage
Faster Attacks
(For those using 4- or 5 linked items, drop the supports in the listed order)
Utility supports for countering map mods
Mana Leech, Reduced Mana, Additional Accuracy for - regen maps
Added Fire, Life Leech for reflect maps
Warlord's Mark for soloing Reflect Maps
I haven't recorded much for you guys unfortunately, so you can always pop by my stream @ twitch.tv/noperative and check out my recordings.
Some examples of the crit dagger (I use various skills):
[url=http://www.twitch.tv/noperative/c/2782675]Colonnade Brutus Man-mode (Frenzy Charges)[/url]
[url=http://www.twitch.tv/noperative/c/2799503]Clearing with Reave[/url]
[url=http://www.twitch.tv/noperative/c/2764446]Overgrown Shrine Spider Man-mode (Boss Damage + Added Fire Damage)[/url]
[url=http://www.twitch.tv/noperative/c/2799552]Colonnade Brutus Revisited (Frenzy Charges)[/url]
I heard about your guide getting destroyed so I decided to check up your old vods, take screenshots and write down everything word by word.
Thanks for being an amazing streamer, helping everyone and being kind in every situation. I fixed a few typos but probably added just as many, especially since the text was blurred in the screenshots resulting in it taking quite some time figuring out what some of the words were supposed to say.
GGG REDOXE FTW.
It's nothing, really. Being unemployed I have lots of spare time and I felt like giving back to Noperative for everything he's done. Making other people happy makes me happy so my motives were not completely selfless. Got to get my daily fix of that warm and fuzzy feeling.
Currently at level 80 with 4,8k es, 8k armor, 43% block and 4,3 dps with 4L reave. Can clear Lunaris with ease. Attack time is 0.14 and with blood rage max life leach.
My current gear:
Will change carcass to my 5l amors+es chest when I roll good stats on it.
Here is an example why I choose to use unwavering + IR. We run several Colonnades (71 map) where we try to run as dangerous bosses as possible. It's a long feature but in general you can see us tackling Double Brutus bosses, with as many forms of added damage as possible. We even do it with Temporal Chains in one map.
The idea is that Unwavering + IR isn't that big in the majority of situations, but when you get to the more dangerous points of the game, the combination will show it's worth.
I'm considering not taking either of these. It's a looong journey to get there and many points are wasted on +10 fillers. As a casual player, not willing to grind currency and invest heavily in my gear, I'd rather spend these 19 points on extra resistances, dagger damage/crit nodes. Once I hit 60's, I will not have to care much about stats other than ES on my gear, because it will be covered by passives.
Here is an example why I choose to use unwavering + IR. We run several Colonnades (71 map) where we try to run as dangerous bosses as possible. It's a long feature but in general you can see us tackling Double Brutus bosses, with as many forms of added damage as possible. We even do it with Temporal Chains in one map.
The idea is that Unwavering + IR isn't that big in the majority of situations, but when you get to the more dangerous points of the game, the combination will show it's worth.
I'm considering not taking either of these. It's a looong journey to get there and many points are wasted on +10 fillers. As a casual player, not willing to grind currency and invest heavily in my gear, I'd rather spend these 19 points on extra resistances, dagger damage/crit nodes. Once I hit 60's, I will not have to care much about stats other than ES on my gear, because it will be covered by passives.
Having any kind of "Cannot be Stunned" makes life so much easier, you'll have to worry about desync a lot less and when your only defense is life leech you don't want to become stunnned for too long.
IR alone is not as important but if you pick up Unwavering you really do want it to not waste Grace or any evasion gear you might have.
You are free to do whatever you want with your character but keep in mind what I said when you make the choice of whether or not to continue down to IR + Unwavering.
Indeed, anti stun can be useful, depending on chosen attack type. LS seems to need it it the least. You play semi-ranged then. Fortunately, it can be reached with only 10 points, going SW from Vaal Pact area. Thanks for a good and well written guide, btw.
I think if I had another try at poorjoy's asylum I would be able to do it, I simply got complacent at one point and paid for it since I wasn't paying attention to my granites/endurance charges.
Last edited by Noperative on Sep 10, 2013, 1:03:00 AM
Why are Platinum Kris's not included in your "recommended base items" list? I'm thinking there must be a reason, but my understanding is they are the same attack speed, 20-79 base damage instead of 21-83, and 80% increased global crit chance instead of 60%. So you're trading 1-4 physical damage for 20% global crit chance. They both have a local crit chance of 7.28, the highest available on daggers.
It just seems like an even trade at worst, w/the extra 20% crit chance perhaps being more important than a 1-4 physical damage. I realize that physical damage then gets scaled by % mods so it's more like 2-10 on an insane dagger, but is that really such a big difference from 20% crit? I'm thinking I must be missing something since people almost never roll platinum kris's, but you see Demon Daggers all the time.
Is this build viable at HC?
How much currency would you say is fine to start with?
I would say enough to buy Dream Fragments + a decent ES chest that can roll the colours you need is the bare minimum to start with. If possible add rainbowstrides and a good helm or shield to boot.
Why are Platinum Kris's not included in your "recommended base items" list? I'm thinking there must be a reason, but my understanding is they are the same attack speed, 20-79 base damage instead of 21-83, and 80% increased global crit chance instead of 60%. So you're trading 1-4 physical damage for 20% global crit chance. They both have a local crit chance of 7.28, the highest available on daggers.
It just seems like an even trade at worst, w/the extra 20% crit chance perhaps being more important than a 1-4 physical damage. I realize that physical damage then gets scaled by % mods so it's more like 2-10 on an insane dagger, but is that really such a big difference from 20% crit? I'm thinking I must be missing something since people almost never roll platinum kris's, but you see Demon Daggers all the time.
Oversight by me, sorry! A few weeks back there was a big forum bug that I unknowingly stepped on and it completely deleted this guide. I had to rebuild it so there are a few issues with how accurate a few finer details are.
For a bit of information: 20% crit chance can be easily gained from a few passive points on the tree while flat physical damage scales from both local weapon modifiers and modifiers in the tree. So in practice the physical damage would warrant the priority.
Also in general, you should always be using a high aspd ambusher/imperial skean since reave works a lot better with high attack speeds.
The slow attack speed daggers are preferred by the flicker strike style of dagger users since they have issues with mana sustain.
