Hardcore CI/GR/VP Staff Leap Slam Shadow [Video]

I had the idea for that build since I got the first good staff.

I enjoy playing the shadow a lot as it is the most fun build I have made so far.

Video (sorry for the quality):
http://youtu.be/iS12DA_gUY0

But first the link to the level 68 build:
http://bit.ly/Q4Vo6k

The planned level 78 build looks like this:
http://bit.ly/TfBpFZ

Notice that the level 78 uses more points than my shadow will have available at that level. That is because the shadow was originally planned as another build so that it already had helped oak twice before I respecced it into what it is now.

Stats of the build:

• 4.5k+ ES
• Higher base HP than most CI builds (shorter elemental ailments)
• Immune to stuns
• 80% all resistances
• 3 endurance charges / high DR due to granite flasks
• very fast "movement speed" if leap slam is used for the movement
• very huge AOE, very high AOE dmg and single target damage (with phase run active even higher)
• 29% chance to block (even more with other staves)

Damage at level 68:
Glacial Hammer

• ~6k DPS without frenzy charges
• ~6.5k DPS with frenzy charges
• ~4.9k damage on hit / ~8k damage on hit with phase run

Leap Slam:

• ~2.4k DPS without frenzy charges
• ~2.6k DPS with frenzy charges
• ~2.8k damage on hit / ~4.5k damage on hit with phase run
• 53% increased AOE radius

The damage will go up even more when I level a bit and get more attack speed. I also played around with "Haste". I used it for quite a long time but in order to use "Leap Slam" as my movement method I chose clarity.



To the playstyle:
Basically I just cast "Blood Rage" and start slamming. If possible I try to cast "Warlord's Mark" as it gives Life/Mana Leech, faster flask charge recovery and also very important endurance charges. If necessary I use a granite flask.

For single targets I use "Gacial Hammer" and sometimes the curses "Enfeeble" or "Temporal Chains".

The bigger the groups of mobs the easier it gets because there will always be enough enemies to leech mana/es.

The only things that can be a bit troublesome are enemies that chill/cast "Temporal Chains" or single boss mobs. But with the right flasks and a bit careful playstyle those are not a real challenge.

I really hope you like the build and consider chosing it for the build of the week.

My items are not the best but also not the worst. I found/crafted most of it myself and just had to trade the "Carnage Heart" and maybe a few gems from another player.

Speaking of the Carnage Heart I have to emphasize that I really like the look and effects of this build. Not only is the character 10% bigger but also has "Extra Gore" which is a nice touch to the leap slam.
"Blood Rage" + "Phase Run" looks amazing and after some time the "Blood Rage" creates some kind of buggy visual effect which I really like.

With small changes of the build this character would also be very viable in a league with the resistance penalty active.

I would love to get some feedback. :)

Edit: Added some information about ES/Damage.

Hey Spacke, I considered suggesting your post the build after I traded you the carnage heart. Video is a good showing of how the build is meant to work, and I'm seeing that ms seems to have no effect on your leap-slam speed (interesting, because GGG (used to?) limited lightning warp as a movement replacement by factoring MS - but not for this skill).

Is spending 10+ points towards Unwavering Stance necessary for endgame CI melee, or just it just allow you to play less carefully? What if, say, you fully fleshed out the last +28% of the area nodes so you can jump around mobs instead of into mobs? It lessens the probability of being hit. The +15% attack speed there is pretty good, though.
(Idea from an impressive screenie of a a full +area sweep by a templar.)

Also, a minor note that you can level a melee damage on full life support gem as a replacement or addition to melee physical damage - it is 10% cheaper if you have some mana problems.

= = = =

One interesting question for an alternative build woud be whether those generic shield block nodes that say "+x% to block chance" also applied to blocks other than shields. :P

Very interesting build spacke, although I do have a few questions:

1. ever considered the use of sweep instead of leap slam as a primary aoe dps skill? how do the 2 scale vs each other?

2. also, any particular reason why you picked up RT considering that you've got quite alot of dex nodes invested in and crit is after all a shadow's innate strength and might it not be more fun to crit your opponents?

3. instead of spending a point on 3% attack speed for instance, would it perhaps not be better to opt for an extra frenzy charge which grants 5% increased AS?

i've tried to go about the US, VP and RT nodes coz i think it takes too many points to reach there. have you not considered an alternative build such as

alternative

how would that scale vs the current one?

Thanks for the feedback so far!

"

zharmad wrote:

Is spending 10+ points towards Unwavering Stance necessary for endgame CI melee, or just it just allow you to play less carefully? What if, say, you fully fleshed out the last +28% of the area nodes so you can jump around mobs instead of into mobs? It lessens the probability of being hit. The +15% attack speed there is pretty good, though.
(Idea from an impressive screenie of a a full +area sweep by a templar.)

I equip every CI character I play with an "Eye of Chayula". CI builds get stunned a lot and the stun immunity is both a big offensive and defensive advantage. It is a huge DPS boost.
For this build I chose US because the nearby attack speed node is sweet and every 10 points I put into STR give %2 physical damage and more base HP.
Sweep is indeed a nice skill and I successfully used it on other chars but the big advantage of Leap Slam is that you manually can dodge most of the attacks and it does more damage.

"

zharmad wrote:

Also, a minor note that you can level a melee damage on full life support gem as a replacement or addition to melee physical damage - it is 10% cheaper if you have some mana problems.

Ah, thank you for that hint. That might be really helpful! :)

"

zharmad wrote:

One interesting question for an alternative build woud be whether those generic shield block nodes that say "+x% to block chance" also applied to blocks other than shields. :P

I'm pretty sure that those nodes just work with shields. ;S

"

Invalesco wrote:

Very interesting build spacke, although I do have a few questions:

1. ever considered the use of sweep instead of leap slam as a primary aoe dps skill? how do the 2 scale vs each other?

Well, as I said above Leap Slam grants me more mobility. It also does much more damage (at level 16 Leap Slam does 14% more physical than Sweep). Maybe a combination of both would work.

"

Invalesco wrote:

2. also, any particular reason why you picked up RT considering that you've got quite alot of dex nodes invested in and crit is after all a shadow's innate strength and might it not be more fun to crit your opponents?

That is a good question. While I leveled the character I had to notice that the chance to hit was not that good. The most important reason I took RT is because I want to ensure that I leech all the time. Imagine being chilled and having Temporal Chains on and then you miss a whole Leap Slam. Can be deadly. ;/

"

Invalesco wrote:

3. instead of spending a point on 3% attack speed for instance, would it perhaps not be better to opt for an extra frenzy charge which grants 5% increased AS?

Yeah, that is another great Idea. When I started planning the build I went for 2 additional frenzy charges but somehow their priority got less and less.

"

Invalesco wrote:

i've tried to go about the US, VP and RT nodes coz i think it takes too many points to reach there. have you not considered an alternative build such as

alternative

how would that scale vs the current one?

That build surely is worth trying. IMHO it lacks a bit survivability compared to mine and like I said above I will never play a CI character that can be stunned. Those 4% AOE nodes are not worth it, if you ask me.
Crystal Skin and Wrecking Ball are definitely a great choice. If I had the points I would go there too. :D

personally i feel that it is worthwhile taking the eye of chayula unique over the carnage heart unique to get round the stun aspect of a CI melee in terms of the passive points saved.

vaal pact i feel is unnecc because of the usually high ES levels that most melee CI users have.

the 4% aoe nodes i took to make up for relinquishing one of the 12% aoe nodes in your build.

all in all a pretty interesting build! the video looks cool too. the constant leap slamming is actually pretty hilarious - the char looks like he's high! imagine if you didn't take RT though and went for the option of crits - that would make your build unique as compared to most other staff builds, and imagine a crit leap slam, that would look pretty awesome graphically as well!

this?
you build it str8 to res.teq at start maybe, and only take the +% ES and such, and after R.T. you take everything else

Could you care to elaborate on how someone is to go about leveling this character early and mid game? Like what did your mid-level skill tree look like and could you update it for the new resist penalties? lol sorry I am asking so much but I'm just curious cause I really wanna try this build! :D

Is there any chance you could reallocate the skill tree to the new version of it, i cant view it. Im very interested in staff shadow - its all i've been playing. Could use some better experienced player's tips

Necropost, but I wouldn't mind seeing this as well. Shadows look so cool when they hold a staff, I really would love to see a viable build if any exist.

+
How can looks shadow build for 2 handed weapon (axe) and Leap Slam as a main skill ?