I Cast Magic Missile! - Cantrip's Guide to Ethereal Knives

Hi, quick noob question; I've completed the "core" build, and now I'm lvl 45 with a bunch of unused passives - I'm just wondering which direction to go first. EB or IR and MoM? Or aura nodes? Sorry I haven't read the whole thread, maybe there's already advice on this...

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agentofchaos091 wrote:

Hi, quick noob question; I've completed the "core" build, and now I'm lvl 45 with a bunch of unused passives - I'm just wondering which direction to go first. EB or IR and MoM? Or aura nodes? Sorry I haven't read the whole thread, maybe there's already advice on this...

Depends on your gear and how you feel, squishy/not enough damage, etc.

I went for IR + MoM first, but I had rather good gear. Without good gear, MoM doesn't work if you don't have EB. BTW, IR isn't a must if you have some actual Armor gear, at least once AA is leveled and you have good Life / Mana (with MoM). MoM is the reason I went all that way, IR just happened to be on the way.

So assuming normal-semi-crappy gear, go for EB + Shadow Aura nodes first.

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CantripN wrote:

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agentofchaos091 wrote:

Hi, quick noob question; I've completed the "core" build, and now I'm lvl 45 with a bunch of unused passives - I'm just wondering which direction to go first. EB or IR and MoM? Or aura nodes? Sorry I haven't read the whole thread, maybe there's already advice on this...

Depends on your gear and how you feel, squishy/not enough damage, etc.

I went for IR + MoM first, but I had rather good gear. Without good gear, MoM doesn't work if you don't have EB. BTW, IR isn't a must if you have some actual Armor gear, at least once AA is leveled and you have good Life / Mana (with MoM). MoM is the reason I went all that way, IR just happened to be on the way.

So assuming normal-semi-crappy gear, go for EB + Shadow Aura nodes first.

Crappy gear is definitely me, lol. Thanks for the tip!

Can someone explain why people aren't leveling up Cast When Damage Taken? And then I see in other cases they do. I'm very confused about this. My gems are high level, but was that a mistake?

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Exiled_Wanderer wrote:

Can someone explain why people aren't leveling up Cast When Damage Taken? And then I see in other cases they do. I'm very confused about this. My gems are high level, but was that a mistake?

When you level it, it triggers when you take more damage. My level 1 gem triggers every few seconds on a real map, but a level 20 would trigger every minute or so, at best.

For a melee build, or one that TAKES more damage, this would be fine, since it would still trigger often enough, but since this build TAKES less damage from most things, it's not a good idea to level it.

So for my auraless high HP and Armor Marauder with no no evasion, I can level it up? Because that's what I've done.

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Exiled_Wanderer wrote:

So for my auraless high HP and Armor Marauder with no no evasion, I can level it up? Because that's what I've done.

Probably. Try it, you'll feel if it works well or not.

I love how this is relevant to the thread, by the way. [/sarcasm]

Hey Cantrip! Thanks a bunch for such an awesome guide, Im running very similar build but with 5 auras and less life!

What is your take on the lightning coil vs cloak of defiance?

I used cloak of defiance with 2,8k hp, 11k dps, auras were hatred, haste, discipline, clarity, grace, my life was alright with 40% MoM, 500 mana pool, 450 manareg. Only problems I had were shock and chill effects.

Im now testing lightning coil with purity of lightning instead of grace. If it works out well enough, only problem left is the chill effect.

Thanks to Alphas howl Im immune to freeze and it helps against chills too.

@Snapkin:
Thanks!

I think it's harder to gear if you use a Lightning Coil (need more mana / es / mana regen on gear), but overall it's better for end-game. If you're forced to use Purity of Lightning, it won't be as good (but then, with an Alpha's making it so cheap, maybe?), but if you can avoid that, it's better - after all, mana = life, so giving up mana or a useful aura like Grace would be a shame (even though Grace isn't mandatory for most content, even 78s).

Good stats, I think your life is a bit low, but as you say, with 40% MoM it's enough, barely. With just 30% MoM, you'll need a bit more to be safe for most things (I'd aim for 3500-4000).
Remember that even though MoM helps you survive damage, Chill/Shock/Stun check your LIFE to know if it works, so more life is the only real protection against Shock for you.

With Alpha's and good enough gear, you can keep on running all those auras (that's what I do, sometimes), but as I said, Grace isn't needed for most things once you have a Lightning Coil, and more spare mana protects you better.

Could you post your gear, btw? Sounds like you have some VERY nice stuff :)

Thanks for the response Cantrip!

This is my current gear



Stats atm: 2,7k life, 700/4500 mana, 447 mana reg (cloak gives me exactly 100 more regen and pool) 11k dps (only lvl19 ek!) 37% phys mit, 75,75,50,-23. Auras clarity, haste, hatred, discipline and purity of lightning.

As you can see, my lightning resist is not capped even with purity of lightning, thanks to my new shield :). Im solving this problem with a new ring that Im trying to bid at this very moment. Another option would be a godlike rustic sash.

I indeed understand the mechanic of status ailment vs life pool, I was / am trying to fix this with the use of purity of lightning so the hit that comes through 78-79% light res wont shock me. AA handles the fire dmg and chills are getting better with every life node thanks to alpha.
Villa boss still is a huge pain in the ass with his fire degen traps.

My current build:
http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAgAACGcMfRB_EZYVIBbzFy8YPBjbGYYZihqPHNwdFB2qHpQgnCHDJLAmPCepKPoppSpNLOktgy2oL28vnTGeNZI26T8nRZZFnUZxSshMMk3jTipRTFXGVdZWLVfhW69k526qb55wu3Txeqp9W3_GgKSCHoLHgwmFMobRiEKPRpDWkyeTOpcGmuCbtaZXpwisP6x_sZC0DLXyt9a4k70nwcXDOsSixp7KSs9l0NDZE9sL21ncV90N4YjigONq6yzr7vba-WX56PrS-wn-jw==

You maybe noticed my hard on for cast speed and evasion nodes, this with grace, ir, alpha and cloak of defiance gives me 57% phys mit. I have yet to decide which setup I like more. Damage seems to be pretty fine when soloing. When Im grouping, Im providing a lot of pumped up auras, so my melee friends can go to town, and die to ele reflect they dont usually have to worry about :D